Tempting Twilight
by LynMcCallum
Summary: Takes off after Hunt the Moon. If you haven't read that book, don't read this fanfic, it will offer far too many spoilers! The main summary is inside the story at the start. This fanfic will change POVs between Cassie and an OC. Rated T but beware of swear words and later violence! Hope you like it!
1. Prologue

**_Hey guys, this was just a story that I felt like writing after reading Hunt the Moon because it annoyed me too much that Pritkin was sent back down to Hell! I mean come on! He's being condemned to his personal hell in all respects just because he saved someone he loved? That's just unfair! So as mentioned at the end of Hunt the Moon, Cassie is going to do what she can to get him back. She's definitely not going to let him go without a fight! _**

**_In this fanfic, Cassie learns about how the demon world functions, all the tricks and all the hierarchies involved. She finds that the demon world isn't nearly as straightforward, if you could even say that, as the vampire world. To get Pritkin back, she's really going to have to stay on her toes and avoid demonic charms which are even deadlier than the charm of a vampire by a mile! If she can only barely hand Mircea's charm when she's at her best, how can she possibly hope to handle demon charms thrown at her left, right and centre? Some of the charm isn't even from enemies, but rather from the man she's trying to save himself? _**

**_Of course, as I've mentioned, there is a new and own character in this story who will be helping Cassie along in her task. But just who is this girl and why does she seem to know so much? Even more than Pritkin knew, in fact? _**

* * *

><p><em>~x~ Prologue ~x~<em>

_Lyris raced down the street to escape her pursuers when something unexpected happened. It was something that hadn't occurred for a while so she was startled when it did. She passed a certain couple and with the brief brush of skin contact with the woman she felt the truth flash through her mind. _

_Everything detail about that woman flittered through her brain within a matter of seconds and Lyris whirled around in shock. The woman, known as Cassandra Palmer, was an important person is various respects. Firstly, she had the abilities of a clairvoyant and a dark mage. Secondly, she was currently escaping some form of a house arrest. Thirdly, she was the newest Pythia and therefore her boss for all intents and purposes. _

_However, the thing that really made Lyris turn around and catch Cassie's upper arm was the fact that the Pythia had the blood of a god flowing within her. The blood of a very important god indeed. _

_Artemis._

_Lyris wasn't entirely certain how Cassie was related to the goddess since she hadn't delved into the truth too much but from that flittering touch, Lyris learned more than she'd intended to know. _

_It was an ability that she sometimes resented because she felt that it was an intrusion of privacy. With the life that she'd had, Lyris understood the feeling of having someone probe into her privacy. That was the main reason why she was running away but now? Now she knew that she had to offer some form of warning without giving too much away._

_"You! What? How? Why are you here?" Lyris all but screamed at the baffled Pythia. _

_A hand enclosed firmly around her wrist in warning while hers remained enclosed around Cassie's upper arm. Lyris blinked in surprise at the vaguely familiar touch and when she trailed her gaze to the owner of the hand, she instantly knew why._

_Emrys._

_The son of one of the Demon Lords on the Royal Council of Hell. It had been centuries since she'd last seen him because he'd been banished onto Earth for attempting to kill a Council member. Since he'd made permanent residence on Earth, Lyris had lost contact with him. The reason being that she was, in opposite, confined to the worlds of Hell due to her father's overprotectiveness. _

_She saw his eyes widen in surprise and knew that her gaze had mirrored his. She knew without a doubt that he would recognise her instantly just as she could recognise him. It was a talent that all demons had. They would be able to identify another demon by their auras, however, it was harder to identify the race and identity of the particular demon unless one held a lot of power. _

_Both Lyris and Pritkin possessed a lot of power and therefore could without effort recognise race and identity with a simple touch. _

_She gave a startled gasp when she felt a slither of power connect with her shield. She realised that he was trying to re-establish a link that had not been used for a long time. Not since he'd been banished. Cautiously, she accepted the request for the connection and she suddenly felt a lot warmer and a lot more comforted. She felt familiarity settle over her and she realised how much she'd missed it._

"Lyris?"_ he asked with suspicion laced in his tones._

"Yes Em, it's really me so no need for the suspicious tone. It's been a very long time, hasn't it? How have you been coping?" _She laughed and gave him a mental nudge._

"I've coped."

"But it's been hard." _Lyris stated rather than asked. She knew the answer because it was there in his eyes, in his aura. He might have found a way to settle on Earth without caving into his most basic needs as a demon, but she knew that without a doubt, he was still suffering. Particularly with Cassie at his side because she stirred his senses like no other. _"We need to talk, Em, but not now. We don't have the time for it. Actually, it's _you_ who doesn't have the time for it. I wish you luck old friend in protecting your Pythia because the task will not be easy and it will require a lot of sacrifices."

"Tell me something I don't know." _Pritkin scoffed._

"I just did. Soon, you will have to make a choice, one that will make you suffer no matter which you choose."

"Has anyone told you that you're still as cryptic as ever?"

"Oh yeah," _she smirked sassily. _"We'd better get back to the real world because your little Pythia is beginning to look a little freaked."

"Hm… you may be right about that. I will come find you, Rys."

"Whenever you have a moment of spare time, Em."_ Lyris nodded._

_With that she shut the door on their connection but instead of locking the link again, she left the connection so that he would be able to contact her at will without having to be in her proximity._

_She returned her attention to Cassie who looked startled and began to pass glances between her and Pritkin. There was a gleam of curiosity in her gaze as she glanced back and forth between the pair, wondering what was happening during those few seconds of silence. Cassie's curiosity merely increased when Pritkin released Lyris' wrist._

_Lyris gave a small cryptic smile and reached up with her hand to brush Cassie's cheek with a faint brush of her knuckles._

_"I wish you good luck. Be careful because soon, your life will get even more out of hand than it currently is. You're involved in something far deeper than the current war between the vampire Senate and the mage Councils. Soon, everything will begin to make sense and when it does, remember to not lose yourself in life's maze. Just remember that you _are strong_ and no one can tell you otherwise except for yourself."_

_"What?" Cassie arched her brows at the stranger's cryptic comments and she felt more confused than she already was. She was already surprised that Pritkin hadn't abruptly torn her away from the stranger the way he usually would. Nor did he use threats to make the stranger go away. _

_"Believe in yourself. You have the power." Lyris repeated before a terrified expression settled on her face and a heartbeat later she was suddenly gone, racing down the street, taking a sharp left a few metres ahead. _

_"What was that about?" Cassie asked Pritkin suspiciously and he simply ignored the question and proceeded to lead her to the parking lot._

* * *

><p><em><strong>This bit is set in Hunt the Moon around the time between the explosion of the cafe if I remember rightly and just before the massive dragon fight where Pritkin nearly dies protecting Cassie.<strong>  
><em>


	2. Chapter 1

_~x~ Chapter 1 ~x~_

I tapped my fingers impatiently and viciously on the bar counter, waiting for the Italian vampire hybrid. Casanova. The same Casanova as the overly flirtatious man from Venice. The travelling womanizer.

As always, Casanova was making me wait for him. It no longer mattered that I was his master's girlfriend, for which I would forever be grateful for since I hated to be known as 'The Master's Girlfriend' rather than being influential in my own right. In fact, it seemed that Casanova had learned to avoid me at all costs. Whenever I required his help, something always happened to his club.

After waiting for five minutes, I finally lost my patience. Yes, I felt horrible for having to drag Casanova into difficult situations all the time. But I needed information and Casanova was the only person I could go to for the information that I needed desperately.

I slammed my shot glass down impatiently and glared at the bartender whose name I couldn't remember at that particular moment. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, looking completely unimpressed with my antics. He simply continued to polish the glass at a purposefully slow pace, just to irritate me.

"Where is Casanova?" I demanded tersely.

"The boss will see you when he's ready."

"No, he'll see me now." I told him and stood abruptly. "You have until I get to him to give him a warning."

With that said, I turned on my heel and headed towards the back door through the crowds. I was sick and tired of people messing around with me and I'd had enough of it. I wasn't their puppet, I was the bloody Pythia and it was time people started treating me as one properly instead of with pretty words. I wasn't a pretty doll to be put on display while being locked away and kept behind glass doors. It was time that people start listening to me without ignoring or patronising me.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" he hollered and vaulted over the counter, chasing after me. It was a hard thing to do considering how dense the crowd was tonight. Casanova must've been offering some sort of a deal tonight for him to have managed to attract so many customers.

"Hanz," a clear cutting voice called out and I stopped and turned around in surprise. I knew that voice. It was a voice that I wouldn't forget very easily due to its unique musicality. It was also because I knew that voice. It belonged to the girl who had bumped into me and Pritkin on the street a couple of days ago.

I noticed that the bartender had stopped as well as though he was frozen to the spot.

Glancing around, I easily found the person to whom the voice belonged to. Now that I actually had the time to see her properly, I noticed that she looked quite young; a couple of years younger than me give or take. She was someone who possessed a presence that commanded attention. Like many master vampires.

And not only did she give off a powerful presence. Even more unfair, was the fact that she was stunning. Her beauty could give the most beautiful vampires a run for their money. She might even be able to give François a run for her money.

She didn't have the same obvious beauty as François possessed. She was more refined, graceful despite her battered appearance. She looked like she'd been hit by a truck and running away from her worst nightmare. Of course, that made perfect sense considering how quickly she disappeared that first and last time I saw her.

Her long flowing dark hair was gathered into a chaotic bun with strands flying all over the place at odd angles. Her face had traces of mud and dirt lingering on her skin and her plump pink lips were slightly parted. They were the type of lips that tempted kisses.

The clothes were the most eye catching other than her bright emerald eyes that shone in the dim lighting. Pink. Pink was all I could see in terms of her clothes because it was just so blindingly bright that it was hard to notice anything else. It was a jumper of sorts that fell to the middle of her thighs. It was neither too long nor too short to cover a decent amount of skin.

Although she had obviously attempted to clean up a little, there were still smudges of mud and blood patches all over her skin. There was also an incredibly nasty looking bruise on her left leg that ran from the knee upwards. I couldn't see where the bruise ended because of her jumper but I knew that it must've hurt a lot, having had a lot of experience in getting bruises.

"It's alright, Hanz, she's with me," she stated simply with a somewhat bubbly and overly carefree voice. She offered no further explanation and simply gave a smile. It was a smile that reminded me of Mircea for a brief moment. The smile left no room for debate and the bartender, known as Hanz, gave her a pained expression.

"Casanova will be furious with me." Hanz pleaded with wide eyes. He looked like he was going to be put to the slaughter which I found incredibly exaggerating. Surely the situation wasn't that bad.

"I'll take the blame for you," she promised him, sincerity clear in her tone.

"But -"

"Does Casanova dream to deny me?" she asked with an amused lilt in her voice.

Hanz pursed his lips and the internal battle was evident on his expression. He stared at the stranger for a few moments longer before he gave a heavy sigh.

"I'm definitely going to get fired for this."

"I'll hire you if you do, or I'll make sure you get to keep your job here," she smiled sweetly. "Maybe even ensure you a promotion?"

"A promotion…"

"I will see what I can do," she smirked, knowing full well that she had won.

Hanz finally turned around, stalking back to the bar counter.

"I thought I might find you here," she smiled, warmly and oh-so-sweetly at me.

"I'm sorry," I apologised, arching a brow in confusion. "But who are you? I know that I've met you before but I don't know if you'd remember me.2

"Sure I remember you," she laughed, the sound chiming gracefully like tingling bells. "You're Pritkin's most important…" she hesitated for a moment and but her bottom lip nervously as though she was unsure of whether she should say what she had planned. "Pythia," she said eventually.

"It's good to know that I'm so easily identifiable." I scoffed sarcastically. "Wait, did you say: 'Pritkin's most important,'?"

I was surprised at the idea of it and something about it made me feel warm inside. I was important to him. Sure, it was because I was Pythia, but it still made me feel… happy and needed.

"Oops…" she but her lip again and smacked her forehead. "Okay, that doesn't really matter so much right now. What matters the most right now is to get him out of that contract."

"You… you know?" I stared at her in pure shock.

It had taken a lot for Pritkin to trust me enough to really tell me about his true life. So it was obvious that he must've trusted this woman a lot. Somehow, that stirred jealousy within me. Not even Agnes, the previous Pythia, knew. So who was this woman to Pritkin and why did she know so much?

"Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are like an open book?" she grinned and patted my shoulder sympathetically. "I will tell you what needs to be said soon. But for now, I'll just introduce myself. Hi, my name is Ril Luciana."

"Ril Luciana?" I arched my brows again in surprise.

I had to say that I'd never heard of the name 'Ril' before. 'Luciana' I knew was an Italian name but I'd never heard of it as a surname before. I guessed that she had the same tendency of having an abnormal name as Pritkin. It made me wonder whether she was really as young as she looked.

"Well, what can I say?" she shrugged. "I'm not all that creative with names. Would you mind if I call you Cassie? Cassandra seems so… grossly formal."

"Go ahead, it'd make me happier."

"Then Cassie it is," she beamed. "Now let's pay to the guy upstairs a visit." Ril smirked somewhat deviously.

She took me by the hand and led me through the crowd as thought I was a little girl. I felt warmth pass through her fingertips and for that brief moment, it really felt like everything was okay. That everything was _fine_. I didn't know Ril at all, and yet, her very presence held the reassurance of safety, of trust, and of loyalty.

It felt like I could trust her without a doubt or any questions.

And that's exactly what I did. I decided to trust her and I was surprised by the sense relief that coursed through me. The feeling that there was someone else whom I could trust, someone who was here and I could confide in. it seemed that she knew her way around the club better than I did despite the fact that I had been in this club far too many times to count. She took me through routes that I didn't even realise existed. She took me to an elevator and we stood in silence. She finally released my hand as though she only just realised that she'd been holding it the whole time.

She rocked back and forth on her heels, humming cheerfully. It was some kind of classic but I couldn't name the piece. I stole another glance at her and she turned to face me with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about the mud and the dirt…" she fidgeted with the hem of her sleeves. "I didn't really have time to clean up since you turned up earlier than I thought. Well, earlier than HE thought."

I blinked in surprise and stared at her. "He?"

"Prit."

I knew instantly that she'd meant Pritkin. I was startled by the shortened version of his name. Somehow, I didn't think he would be glad about the name. it also sounded very intimate and jealousy seared through me once more.

"Cassie, there is nothing intimate going on between me and PRit. We share the same views on several topics, that's all. Well, that and the fact that we've nearly killed each other before on more than one occasion." Ril added like it was a normal thing for them to almost kill each other.

"Does he know you call him that?"

"Actually, this is my first time calling him that," she grinned. "He'd probably kill me if he ever finds out I called him that. Scratch that, I know that he will definitely try and kill me if he knew."

"He's impulsive like that."

"A damn stupid habit of his."

The elevator pinged and the doors opened to a suite that I had never seen before. This suite was the definition of Casanova. It was lustrous, extravagant and ridiculously sexual. There were no erotic pictures as such, but they were certainly borderline erotic and the colours just seemed to evoke sensuality.

"Who is it?" Casanova asked with a husky tone. He stepped out of another room, water drops rolled down his deliciously tanned body and he wore nothing but a towel which hung sinfully low around his hips. "Cassie!" he barked in surprise and his eyes looked frantic. "How did you get here? Please, I'm begging you, Cassie. Don't ruin my room."

"Don't worry, if you help me, you room will be untouched." I told him simply.

"What do you want?" he sighed in fatigue and collapsed into a chair. He looked as though he'd just had his life sucked out of him.

"Oh my dear, Casa, there's no need to be so melodramatic, is there?" Ril piped up as she casually sat herself across his lap with his legs under the arch of her knees. Her back was propped up by the arm rest and on her stomach was a delicious looking pate of cheese, biscuits and fruit.

Suddenly, Casanova's expression changed. Life flowed back into his eyes and something akin to love and affection settled on his face. He glanced down at her with a slow smile that wasn't just sexy and I did a double take. Casanova just smiled. He just smiled without the demon or vampire charms! He was smiling, for the sake of smiling.

He trailed his hands casually over her legs and it reminded me of something that Mircea would do. I squirmed, feeling uncomfortable. It felt as though I was interrupting something highly private and intimate. I'd never seen him like this before and I didn't know whether to be creeped out or relieved that he wasn't wholly a sexual maniac with an obsessive streak for his business.

"The jumper suits you," he told her with a gentle voice.

"Are you trying to be funny? This thing is gross but it was the only thing that I could find in the changing rooms." Ril blanched and popped a grape into his mouth. "You haven't been resting enough."

"It's been difficult these past few months," he shrugged and drew doodles absentmindedly on her legs.

"I suppose that under your circumstances, that's understandable," she grinned.

"You don't look rested either." Casanova grunted and pinched her leg in reprimand. "With you here, I feel like a cornered mouse," he complained.

"Don't worry, Cassie won't bite," she laughed.

I had been trying hard to avert my gaze from the pair while they were talking. I tried to pay attention to something else but when she mentioned my name, I had no choice but to face them. Something must've shown on my face because Ril suddenly burst into laughter.

"Cassie, you are one hilarious lady," she beamed and wiped what looked suspiciously like tears from her eyes.

"Are you two dating?" I asked bluntly.

"I wish I could make her mine." Casanova scoffed. "No that is merely a fantasy, something that can only happen in dreams."

"At least I lessen the rate of nightmares," she smiled cheekily.

"But you make it so that one does not wish to wake up."

"That's your decision, not mine." Ril retorted. "This meeting is not a dream, nor is it even about me."

"Yes, no doubt my master's girlfriend has another impossible task for me," he rolled his eyes and I narrowed mine at him. I refrained from hitting him. I didn't like how he referred to me as Mircea's girlfriend like that. It made me sound like I was a pet and nothing more. I was certainly not Mircea's pet nor will I ever be.

"Actually, I don't need _your_ help per se."

"Then why the urgency to see me?"

"I need your demon's help." I told him simply.

Casanova's eyes widened and he looked as though someone just destroyed something precious of his. The expression of sheer incredulity and disbelief settled on his face and I knew that he hit panic mode.

"Casanova, I need to go into Hell. More specifically, I need to go to Rosier's front door and I can't do that without your help." I told him before I lost his attention and he ran away.

"No."

"Casan -"

"No fucking way, Cassie!" he screamed and jumped up. Ril must have been anticipating that because she somehow flipped backwards over the armrest she'd been leaning on and landed perfectly balanced on her feet. "I'm NOT going into another suicide mission with you! If you want to die, do it by yourself. I highly value my life, Cassie, and I don't want to take such risks anymore."

"This is a matter of life and death, Casanova, please help me."

"If I do this, I will be killed, by both my masters! One will destroy me for putting you in danger, the other will kill me for bringing you to his front steps!"

"Actually, Casa, Roz would probably reward you for leading her to him. That way he could kill her easier. He is strongest at his own home after all." Ril piped up.

"If you support her, then why don't you escort her to her death?"

"Because I'm not going to help her die, I'm going to make sure she stays alive for Prit's sake if not for the world's. You know that I cannot legally set foot on Roz's territory unless I get two very idiotically stubborn demons' consent. I'll need a freedom pass, something that I don't have."

"Rys, you know that I love and respect you, but I cannot do this. This is far, far beyond the line."

"I will handle Mircea, and Rosier, so please help me!" I pleaded.

"Cassie, I'm sorry but I cannot help you in this." Casanova spoke with a monotone voice filled with decisiveness. "I value my demon's life too much to risk it."

"But -" I tried to reason and Ril suddenly cut in.

"I have a better idea," she cut in casually. "In four days' time, there will be a party. A massive one at that, mainly as the official celebration for Prit's return. Roz wants to boast to the other Lords and Elders of his success in getting his son back into the Demon realm."

"Pritkin's not a tool!" I protested.

"In your eyes, no. in the demon Lords and Elders' eyes? That's a different story." Ril told me bluntly. "If you want to become involved in the demon politics, you've got to start learning how they function and how to read demons. Otherwise, you'll be a completely defenceless lamb stepping into a cage filled with ravenous lions."

Her tone was so stern and so serious that it made me feel as though she belonged in the vampire Senate. She spoke with the tone of someone incredibly experienced with life. She couldn't possibly be younger than me. She had to be around the same age as some of the oldest vampires in the Senate.

I let her words run thought my mind and knew that she was right. I didn't have as much of a problem dealing with the vampires because I knew some of their politics, at least. With demons, I couldn't say the same. I knew nothing about how the demon world functioned and I knew this would be a highly dangerous task. But I also knew that I couldn't abandon Pritkin. If he'd sent Ril here then perhaps it was to help me. No doubt, Pritkin knew that I would never give him up and would much rather I had a protector.

"How old are you? You just sounded like some wise old lady." I asked curiously.

"Well, calling me old wouldn't be wrong," she shrugged. "Are you prepared for this?"

"Yes." I told her without a moment's hesitation.

A proud smile broke across her face and she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. She patted my back before holding me at arm's length again. "I'm so glad he chose you. I hope you make a good decision when the right time comes."

I thought about what she'd just said and tried to work out what she was trying to say. After a second or two, I came up with nothing. I couldn't for the life of me work out what she had been trying to say at all. Eventually, I gave up entirely. And simply considered it as a random comment from an all-too-wise person.

"Now, here's the thing, Casa. I would like to ask for a favour. I want to borrow the basement as the training and teaching room. I promise you it won't be destructive, just a little charm evasion training for Cassie's sake."

"You have to promise me that I will take no part in her training, Rys. I can't go against my vampire master's command anymore or he'll finally lose patience with me and kill me."

"I completely understand, there are only two more things that I ask for."

"You understand that there will need to be a price."

"Oh I know," she nodded with an understanding smile. "I'll give you four days and four nights whenever you wish to use them. In exchange, I want the basement for the next four days at least, contact with Augustine and please give Hanz a little bonus or something for letting Cassie pass through. I kind of bullied him into it."

"Four days and four nights. I will be counting them in terms of hours, Rys. Are you sure you can offer that much? Can you handle it?"

"Sure I can, why can't I?" she frowned.

"Because, my sweet Rys, I will do everything I can to sway you."

Casanova pulled her close. He wrapped an arm around her waist and the other stroked her cheek tenderly as he gazed down at her with an anticipating smile.

"I'd like to see your efforts, Casa. But I won't do the exchange with you. It won't happen."

Ril's mention of the exchange surprised me. I knew that she must have been talking about the exchange of power between two demons. It was a contract and a bond that would be formed between two demons that trusted each other and wanted to form a family. But… if Ril was capable of performing an exchange… then that had to mean that she was a demon.

I stared at her with narrowed eyes and tried to find some kind of a clue that hinted that she wasn't human. But there was nothing. She just seemed so perfectly normal that I hadn't even for a moment tried to consider what specie she might have been. But for her to be so knowledgeable about the demon world, she had to have been part of it. I was so stupid not to have noticed it any earlier!

"We shall see." Casanova smirked in determination and brushed his thumb across her lips. "A kiss to seal the deal?"

"Oh alright, you persistent vampire. But not right now," she shook her head. "For now, I want to give Cassie her first lesson. There isn't that much time and each passing moment Prit spends down there will be like a year for him considering how much he hates the place."

"Will you be staying here?"

"Only if there's good food on offer," she grinned.

"Where will you go?" he asked, turning his attention to me.

"My house," Ril answered for me. "She will be safe there because of the wards. There is a leyline set up already to reach the house from the basement."

"When did you do that?"

"Since you took over this place. I thought it would come in handy at some point. I was right." Ril smiled proudly. Then she turned to me. "Are you ready for your first lesson?"

"As ready as I could ever be." I nodded hesitantly.

"Good. Then let's go shopping," she smirked and I just blinked at her in shock.


	3. Chapter 2

_~x~ Chapter 2 ~x~_

"Wait… what?" I screamed in surprise as she simply took my hand and dragged me out of Casanova's room. "Wait a minute! Ril! You can't go out dressed the way you are now!"

She froze, glanced down at what she was wearing and let out a shriek of surprise. I realised that she must have forgotten that she was wearing little more than just a jumper and she stormed back into Casanova's room with a furious expression on her face.

"Why didn't you stop me before I walked out of your room like an idiot?" she complained and smacked his head. "I'm borrowing your bathroom and when I come out I want to have a decent change of clothes ready. If Cassie doesn't approve of your choice of clothing for me then I will refuse to wear it, you hear me, Casa?"

With her small tantrum, she stormed into the room I had first seen Casanova walk out of and slammed the door shut. I grimaced at her temper and glanced around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. As much as I have imposed on Casanova for the past few months, I still didn't want to invade his privacy to the extent of being in his private rooms. I knew that I personally hated to have my privacy raided by people I didn't deem worthy of it and so I knew that Casanova couldn't have appreciated having me suddenly appearing like this in the one place where he thought he could escape from me.

Casanova must have misunderstood my awkwardness because I was surprised by what he said. "Don't worry about that little tantrum of hers," he told me reassuringly. "She's not angry at all. She's just acting like that to cover up her embarrassment of actually having forgotten about how little she was wearing. She has a terrible habit of that. She's so used to wearing what she chooses that she has a habit of thinking that she's always wearing decent clothes."

"You seem to know her quite well." I smiled.

"I'm one of the few lucky ones who do." Casanova smiled proudly. "Very few indeed."

"Would Pritkin be one of them?"

"Yes, but that is simply because the pair of them understand each other's feelings most of the time. They both live under difficult circumstances with regards to ridiculous parents who wish for their presence to remain in Hell. There are different reasons involved, yes, but both of them regard Hell as little more than a mere prison. I think the pair of them also find it refreshing to find an opponent who is almost exactly equally matched with one another. That way, they both stretch each other's limits without requiring too much from the other."

"I see, so that means that Ril, despite how pretty she looks, really does know how to put up a good fight."

"Oh, yes, never for a single moment doubt that, Cassie. There have been many who have underestimated her strength because of her beauty and have suffered painful consequences because of it. She is very powerful, Cassie, most of the time even more than the war mage because she isn't afraid to use her demon lineage whereas the war mage almost always is."

"Her demon lineage… so she is from hell."

"Yes, of course. What did you think she was?" he blinked and stared at me as though I was the most stupid person on earth.

"Well, I wasn't sure at first but then when she started talking about the demon realm, I realised that she had to have been a part of it to know it so well." I sighed.

"Unfortunately for her, she is very much in the deep of it all."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confusion in my tones.

"I will let her tell you the answer to that herself. So let me guess, you are here, putting yourself in danger again so that you can retrieve the master's son, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Lord Mircea is really going to kill me for this."

"You have no hopes of stopping me. Neither does he for that matter. I'm sick and tired of people making decisions for me. He's been sheltering me for long enough and it's time I put a stop to it."

"It's never worked before. Both your attempts I mean. You try to stop him but nothing works. He tries to shelter you but you manage to break out all the same. It's a vicious cycle."

"You're not going to tell him that you've seen me tonight, are you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it. Not unless he comes and asks me personally. Then I would have no choice but to tell him that I've seen you. But I don't have to tell you who you've been with nor where you are going because technically I have no idea so that wouldn't be lying to him."

"What's stopping you from contacting him right now?"

"For one thing, it would make the one in there," he gestured at the bathroom, "terribly angry at me and I'd rather remain in her good books for eternity if I could help it. I can understand why she would want to help the angry war mage but I still think that it's a stupid idea."

"I can't just let him condemn himself to an eternity of hell like this. Even if she didn't turn up, I still would've found some way of getting down into hell."

"The scariest part of that is that I completely believe you. Knowing you, you'll somehow manage to find some way of coercing me or another demon into taking you down there. You have some kind of a freaky luck when it comes to being able to find the right connections to get you to the places you want to be at."

"Well, I guess that's one of my few useful talents." I smiled.

"You know, Cassie. You can sit down. I won't bite unless you want me to." Casanova gave me a wink and I blinked at him in surprise. Just moments ago, he was looking at me like I was the end of the world or something. Now he was back to being his casual self? "Cassie, once I know that I'm clear of your manic adventures, I can be a decent guy again."

"Sorry. I really don't mean to drag you into everything that happens, Casanova. It's just that… you're the only person with all the right connections it seems."

"And alas, that's my misfortune when it comes to you."

"I guess so." I laughed and took a seat on one of the spare seats. "So how do you know, Ril?"

"Ril?"

"The girl in there." I gestured at the bathroom.

"So that's the name she's going by now."

"I suppose that it's not her real name."

"Not even close." Casanova shook his head. "I met her just like any other lucky demons out there. At court."

"You've been at the demon court?"

"Briefly, yes, but it wasn't for long. I wasn't technically allowed to be there because of my vampire side."

"Ah."

"It was an amusing encounter to say the least. She was running down the hallway wearing nothing but a bra and girls' boxer shorts as I was just walking out of the guest suite that I had been allowed to stay in for that day. I had been summoned to Lord Rosier that day for reasons I can't remember so I guess that it can't have been all that important. But it was the luckiest moment of my life. I was certainly not prepared for our encounter."

"Well, that makes the two of us. I certainly wasn't expecting for her to run past me in the middle of the street and then grab my arm and then have some kind of a creepy silent conversation with Pritkin."

"You'd met her before this?"

"Yeah, it was a few days ago. That time during the bombing. She looked like she was being chased by something and ran past me. Then without warning she grabbed me and in turn Pritkin grabbed her thinking that she was a threat at first. But then he let go of her in shock. It's rare to see that man look shocked so I wish that I had a camera to capture the moment."

"She was here a few days ago?"

"Yeah."

"How is she still here…" Casanova murmured almost to himself.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't mind me."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him but then I realised that I wasn't going to get any answers from him no matter what I tried. I wasn't too concerned about it though, because I knew that I would find the reason eventually. Whether it would be at an appropriate or suitable time, well that was a different story.

"So, tell me more about your meeting with Ril."

"Well, as I've said, she was wearing nothing but a bra and boxer shorts. Then she crashed right into me because neither of us were prepared for something to just suddenly be right there in front of us. She tumbled onto me and I wasn't expecting it in the least. Of course, because she was so beautiful and wore a delicious lack of clothing, I tried to charm her."

"Then?"

"Then she smacked me around the head calling me an idiot for blocking her way and then dashed off again. I wanted to chase after her but then she was nowhere in sight. She was suddenly gone."

"How long ago was this?"

"About 30 years ago, give or take."

"Wow that was a long time."

"Not for her it wasn't." Casanova chuckled. "It wasn't until several months later that I met her again. That time it was here on earth. Again she seemed to be running away from something and I offered her shelter. It was only then that I realised who she really was."

"What do you mean?"

"She has several reputations at court and even her reputations travelled to the ears of demons who reside on earth. One of which was the 'Enchantress of the Royal Courts'. She was untouchable. She had a select few whom she shared her bed with. She wasn't like other demons. She was very much like Pritkin, but less… consistently angry and hateful of who and what she was. She was more accepting and more willing to experiment with what she could do without harming others unless it was intentional."

"Several reputations… that's practically just like me."

"Yes, but most of yours weren't intentional whereas many of hers were. I can't say all her names were intentional, but certainly a fair few were."

"Should I know any more of them or will I just find out as things roll along. That seems to be the way everything works for me since becoming a candidate for becoming Pythia." I sighed.

"I could give you the full list but it would go on for far too long to count." Ril commented as she walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. She had tilted her head sideways so that she towel-dry her hair as best as she could but from my point of view, it didn't look like she was having much luck.

I watched as Casanova's eyes trailed over her body in the same way that Mircea looked at me sometimes and I shifted awkwardly once more. I really did feel like I was intruding on their privacy by being here. There was clearly something going on between the pair. Well, that something was probably what Casanova wanted more than anything else. It would have been interesting to see what Casanova valued more. A relationship with Ril or his business.

"I have been alive for much longer than you have, Cassie, so it's only natural that I have more names than you. Though I do have to say that you've done pretty well for the past couple of months to be able to establish so many different names for yourself already," she told me with a grin.

"Well apparently, the names are still growing by the day." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"That's because you seem to surprise people on a more or less daily basis," she laughed and patted my shoulder. "I'll bet that your vampire bodyguard will have already called that over protective vampire of yours and he would be tripping over his own feet to try and find you. But try as he might, he won't find you. Not unless you want to be found. You don't, do you? At least, not just yet."

"Not at all. But… how am I going to be able to stay away from him without having to jump to a different timeline? Mircea has contacts everywhere. It's sometimes a little creepy when I think about how there isn't a single place I could go without him knowing about it an hour later."

"I'll help you out with that," she waved her hand dismissively. "So, Casa, where're my clothes?"

"You're just going to raid my wardrobe regardless of what I got you so why don't you just raid it now?" Casanova arched his brows at her in amusement.

"Oh you know me far too well," she beamed and gave him a kiss on the cheek before rushing off into another room, presumably Casanova's bedroom.

A few moments later, she came back out looking refreshed and all I could do was stare. Now that she no longer had mud and blood patches all over her skin, I finally noticed that she seemed to glow. It was subtle but the glow was there all the same. It made me understand why people were enchanted by her.

She was wearing a pair of casual slacks which were hung low on her hips, a simple striped shirt which seemed far too big for her but she didn't seem to mind it all that much and her hair was tied into a chaotic bun with strands flicking in every possible direction. Even though she wasn't wearing anything special, she looked flawless. She made me feel highly insignificant and incredibly ugly in comparison. My looks were nothing compared to her. My skin wasn't well taken care of, especially not recently and my hair was a total mess.

Ril turned to stare at me critically and her eyes glanced up and down my body for several moments before her eyes seemed to sparkle. "Casa, you have a few stores nearby, right?"

"Yes, just across the road in the department store, why?"

"Because I want free reign in them, please."

"I will give them a call, please don't bankrupt my stores…" Casanova sighed. "Ril, was it?"

"That's right. My name is Ril," she grinned. "And I'll try not to, but Cassie doesn't look like she's had a decent shopping trip so I can't promise anything."

"Just be reasonable," he told her and patted her cheek gently before heading into his bedroom. It was only then that I finally realised that Casanova had barely been clothed that whole time. I guess that with what had happened to me recently, nudity was really becoming a very insignificant issue.

"Right, now we can go shopping."

"Um… Ril? Why are we going shopping? I thought you said that we were going to start those lessons straight away?"

"We are. Haven't you ever heard? Shopping can be a very terrifying and dangerous experience. Why else do you think that that vampire of yours always makes sure you have at least one guard glued to you at all times? That or make sure that you shop in an almost empty mall?"

"Well…"

"Exactly, so you can't get lost or shoved or trampled on. This will be a good exercise for you. Find the things you need and then find me before you get swamped and led off to somewhere else. And you'll be timed. You have to do everything within two minutes."

"What is this training for?"

"Time efficiency with regards to everything really. This way, you'll be quicker at making a getaway or getting quick clothes when you're on the run. Besides, finding me won't be easy. You'll have to learn to use your senses wisely, Cassie."

"So, you're taking me shopping?"

"It's the first step. The second one would be a very busy club. That would involve more seduction avoidance more than anything else. Not to mention, you need to learn to use your body to your full advantage and to charm others intentionally rather than being charmed by the demons. To do that, you need to know about fashion to a certain degree. And then there are also lessons on how the demon realms function. There is a lot to get through in very little time, Cassie, so let's move."

"But I'm only wearing shorts!"

"Yes, that's why we're going shopping. You don't want to have to risk going back to that hotel room to get your own clothes, now do you? Knowing that vampire of yours, he'd probably set up some kind of a ward to prevent you from being able to shift out of there again."

"The scariest thing is you're probably right about that." I sighed. I hesitated for a few more moments before finally deciding to give in and to follow Ril's lead.

Now that she was better clothed, she seemed a lot more comfortable. Even though she wasn't wearing anything that emphasised her femininity, she seemed comfortable and confident at the same time. She was the type of person I wanted to be like. I wanted to be someone who could exert confidence so that other people would be more likely to believe me.

All my life I've had people make decisions for me simply because they didn't trust that I was capable of handling things myself. I was sick and tired of that. I wanted to change. I wanted to be more confident and somehow, I knew that Ril would be able to help me. Staying with Mircea would make me constantly doubt myself. I would forever live under his shadow no matter what sweet words he used on me. I would always feel inferior when with the Senate. So why not start small? Why not start off by learning from someone who was comfortably rather than overly confident like many of the Senate members.

I would take it one step at a time.

I would learn, and little by little, I would grow and learn to simply accept myself and to believe that I was on par with everyone else in the world.

Ril must've noticed something on my face because she suddenly burst into laughter and patted my shoulder.

"Seriously," she choked out. "You're going to end up killing me by making me laugh to death, Cassie."

I blushed at her comment but I couldn't help but laugh at it. Imagine the irony, legendary and fierce demon girl died by laughing too hard and the newbie Pythia would be condemned for murdering her by making her laugh too much.

"And what have I done this time?" I asked curiously.

"You have the expression of serious determination. I said that shopping was dangerous but you didn't have to think so hard about it!"

"I wasn't thinking about the shopping."

"Oh? Then what were you thinking about?"

"It's a secret."

"Now that's just mean," she complained with a childish pout.

"Have you always been like this?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was just surprised that's all. It's not every day that I meet someone powerful who loves to pout and act childishly as much as you do. I'd probably be dead by now if I did."

"It all comes with practice and knowing when is the right time to be childish to your advantage. And trust me, there will always be an appropriate time to be childish to get what you want."

"I'll take your word for it but I don't think that it would work very well for me."

"Hm... You're probably right about that. Acting childish won't suit you anyway. Being ultra-sexy and seductive however is a completely different story." Ril smirked and promptly gave me a smack on the ass. "Now let's get shopping. You're making excuses to delay the trip!"

"Damn, you saw right through me." I grinned.

"You bet I did!" she declared victoriously. "Now let's go."


	4. Chapter 3

_~x~ Chapter 3 ~x~_

Ril simply grabbed my hand gently in hers and tugged me out of Casanova's room. "I don't really like what you're wearing right now but it would have to make do since we haven't got anything else. We'll start with shopping for more normal everyday stuff before we get into training."

"I have no idea what type of training you have in mind so I'll just go with it. It can't be worse than what Pritkin puts me through." I scoffed. "I mean seriously that guy threw me off a cliff as part of my training!"

"He threw you off a cliff? Wow, that is surprising... Did it work?"

"No."

"But my guess is, he jumped after you when he finally realized that it wasn't going to work and saved your ass. Hence you're still here. So how did he manage to save you?"

"He used a parachute made by his shields I think if I remember rightly. It was terrible for steering."

"Oh I know those things! They're pathetic unless all you want to do is to drop down slowly and completely vertically." she scoffed. "There are much better spells to use than that but I guess that he didn't really think about that at the time."

"Pritkin? Not thinking about any given situation that he's faced with? Well that's a first."

"Oh trust me. There are many times when that man's brain doesn't function as well as he would like it to. But hey, nobody's perfect."

"Don't tell a senate vampire that." I scoffed.

"Oh trust me, if I saw a senate member, there would be no words exchanged. Nothing but absolute chaos."

"You're not on good terms with the senate? How have you managed to survive?"

"Well for one thing they wouldn't be able to catch me even if they wanted to. Two, they want to be able to manipulate me in any way they want but they can't and that frustrates them so we're not exactly friendly with each other. Normally they do their best to stay out of my way and I don't bother them. That's how our relationship works and that's fine by me. I don't like to see them more than I need to."

"Have you ever gone up directly against the senate before?"

"Most high ranked demons have. The senate never learns from their mistakes. They are always trying their best to capture and manipulate powerful demons into what they want and they have never succeeded. Us demons rarely ever do something that doesn't benefit us in some way. The senate, being power obsessed as they are, can't grasp that and so there have been a lot of various conflicts between the senate and high ranked demons for a very long time."

"You still haven't answered my question though, Ril. Have you ever gone up against the senate?"

"Yes and for the moment we'll just leave it at that. I'll tell you another time why the senate and I don't get on."

"Okay but I would like to know if you don't mind."

"I don't mind but there will probably be a better time for me to tell you the story so I'm saving it for then. Oh and for the time being, until I give you a makeover, please don't let go of my hand otherwise the vampires in the area will be able to sense you."

"Okay, got it."

We made it through the streets and although Ril had said that I would be safe with her and I knew that Pritkin trusted her to make sure I didn't die I this insane task, I couldn't help but look around cautiously. It was a habit that had slowly developed since being dragged into the whole Pythia business and having been with Pritkin for so long, although I wasn't usually alert, I did learn to be. Sometimes.

Ril glanced over at me and simply gave me a beaming smile that seemed to say that she was proud of something. I didn't really understand it, but then, I hardly understood what was happening around me since being caught by the Senate.

She gave me a reassuring squeeze of the hand and I smiled back at her. We headed down and across the street from the hotel and she led me into a large looking shopping mall which looked like it had far too many shops to count. The moment I stepped through the doors, I regretted it.

There were people.

A lot of people.

I could barely see the doors of the various shops around us. All I could see was the hundreds of heads that passed us as Ril somehow manages to weave through the dense crowd while guiding me as well. We went into an elevator and I gave a quiet help of protest as more and more people crowded into the small condensed space. I felt like a trapped animal and I didn't like it at all. Ril gently manoeuvred me towards the wall and stood in front of me, shielding me from the mass of people.

With Ril around, I felt safe. In fact, I felt safer with her than being sheltered by Mircea in a hotel suite. I knew that I had high security there and that Marco would do everything in his power to protect me, but the problem didn't lie with whether Marco was willing to protect me or not. The problem was that he didn't know how. Half the time I didn't know what I was up against so how in earth would Marco know?

I was glad when we reached the floor that Ril wanted us to be on and she tugged me off of the elevator. This floor was a lot calmer and quieter and certainly with a lot less people around. I could actually see what shops were on this floor which was a blessing.

I took a look around and realized that I had never been on this floor before with Marco and the other vampire guards. The clothes on this floor were a lot more casual and normal. Although I was just like any other woman on this planet with regards to clothes in the sense that I liked having pretty things, I still enjoyed having the more casual things so that I wouldn't feel nearly as bad every time a piece of clothing was ruined by chaos or training.

For the next few hours Ril let me roam around at my own pace and didn't usher me from shop to shop like I thought she would. She did however on occasion throw various articles of clothing at me to try on. Some I kept since I liked them but others I either refused to try on or handed it back after seeing what it actually looked like on me.

Shopping was strangely therapeutic. I felt like I had all the time in the world because of how chilled it was with Ril around. I liked not having to worry about being surrounded by a bunch of male vampires while I shopped and tried things on.

I liked the return of my privacy above all else.

Privacy was one of the many things that I didn't have with Mircea around. I didn't have my own space and be always tried to dominate my every decision. It infuriated me to no end and I was getting sick and tired of being overly sheltered by him.

After about an hour of shopping, Ril took me to a salon where I had a change of appearance with the help of magic. I still had my original look and features but with the help of a very intricate glamour spell.

After the makeover I looked completely different. Even I couldn't recognize myself and that was an odd thought.

When it got to lunch time that was when hell began. For some odd reason, the lunch hour was extremely busy with people everywhere I looked. There was nowhere that didn't have people and it was utterly ridiculous!

"Since it's rush hour and your first training with me, I'll make it slightly easier. Your task for today is to get a chicken salad sandwich and a bottle of coke then get back to the main entrance. You have fifteen minutes to finish the task and your time starts now." Ril told me bluntly before taking the bags of clothes from me and shoving me mercilessly into the herd of people.

In that same second I lost her. I couldn't see her anymore and I also lost the general direction of where I was. I was being swept along by the crowd and for a moment I panicked and didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure how much time I wasted being swept along by the crowd but eventually I managed to gather my wits and remembered what Pritkin had taught me.

*Quote from Hunt the Moon*

Okay, think calmly and assess the situation. I thought carefully. I had to get a sandwich. That meant that I had to find a café of some kind. Ril never said whether she wanted a specific type of chicken sandwich or not so I guessed that any make would do so long as it was a chicken salad sandwich.

I tried to get a hold of my surroundings and to do that I would have to push past the dense crowd of people so that I could actually see where I was and what was around me. Somehow, I managed to push my way through and found a small space that wasn't dominated by a moving crowd. Once I got there, I jumped up and down a few times, feeling like a fool, so that I could see what shops were around me. I tried to get my bearings and to remember what shops I had passed on the way that morning.

I tried to remember where the cafes were since I could remember having passed at least two. Now the harder part was trying to remember what shops were around each café so that I could try to find it. After wasting even more time trying to remember, I decided to simply take the gamble and head in the direction that I thought one of the two cafés were in.

My first attempt was a failure. Where I thought was a café was actually a kitchen utensils shop. My second attempt however was a success. It was a lovely little coffee parlour which also sold snacks and small lunches. Luckily, they also sold chicken salad sandwiches so I grabbed two of them and two cokes before making a beeline for the counter so that I could pay.

It was then that I realised something else. I didn't have any money on me. Since I had simply shifted from the hotel that I was being confined in to Dante's, I didn't bother bringing any money with me. I gave a groan of frustration and was about to step out of the line when I noticed something poking out of my shorts' pocket.

Maybe God did have some mercy on me.

Sticking out of my pocket was a lovely twenty dollar note. I hastily paid with what I had and dashed out of the coffee parlour. I must have looked like some kind of a mad woman but I didn't care. All that mattered was getting back to Ril in time. I knew that I was either way out of time, or I was cutting it really close.

I looked around once more, trying to get my bearings and trying to remember where the elevator was so that I could get to the main entrance. When I got to the elevator, I saw that there were so many people queuing and realised that I would probably be faster by taking the stairs and that was what I did. I saw the fire escape not far from where I was standing and made a run for it with the food in hand. I took the steps two at a time, sprinting down the stairs like my life depended on it and headed down two floors.

By the time I reached the main entrance, Ril was perched on the small wall just outside of the front entrance and she was shaking her head as I walked up to her.

"You've got several things to work on. I won't tell you everything you need to improve on because if you don't learn it yourself, it won't become embedded into your memory. We'll keep doing these exercises until you get it right for the next four days." Ril told me bluntly. "What I will tell you is something very obvious. You've got to serious cut down the time it takes for you to react to any given situation. It took you approximately four minutes to realise that you were caught in the crowd and another three minutes to realise that you needed to get out of the crowd to find what you needed. Another thing that you are terrible at is shoving past people without being brutally rude. Of course, when your life is on the line, it doesn't really matter all that much whether you're being rude to those around you or not, but for the purpose of these exercises, I want you to get better at shoving through crowds."

"How long was I off by?"

"Only by about a minute. I'm impressed that you chose to take the stairs and you managed to get down them a lot quicker than I would've expected. It seems that some of that training with Prit really had paid off."

"Considering the amount of times that he had me running up and down extremely long flights of stairs, I'm not all that surprised." I rolled my eyes.

"Well then I guess Prit didn't do that bad of a job." Ril smiled at me and patted the space on the small wall beside her. "Let's take a half an hour break and then we'll move onto our next exercise. Well done on your first task for being only a minute off. Next time the time limit will be much shorter so I hope you're prepared, Cassie."

"I will do my best, Ril."

"And that's all I ask for," she smiled again.

I took a seat beside her and handed her one of the sandwiches and one of the cokes. For a while we both ate in silence and I simply watched people walk in and out of the large mall. There were so many people around and I knew by instinct and recognition that a lot of them were also non-humans.

After half an hour, Ril tugged me up and forced me to do several stretches. It was a little embarrassing since we were in the middle of the street but I couldn't defy her either. I knew that Pritkin had bizarre training methods and I had no doubt that Ril was the same, if not a little stranger, so I could only trust her.

When the stretches over, I was even more surprised by her next task.

"Okay, stand on the wall, Cassie."

I did as she asked.

"See that pillar over there towards the end of the street?"

"Yes…"

"I want you to run there and back as fast as you can. I'll time you."

"What?!" I shrieked, earning several odd glances from passers-by.

"Please just do it, Cassie."

I stared at her before giving a reluctant sigh. I jumped off of the wall and just glanced at her with a small glare before taking off down the street as fast as I possibly could while trying to weave through the crowds of people who were also walking down the street. It was incredibly difficult to run since there were so many people around and there were almost no gaps for me to slip past to overtake people.

I somehow managed to reach the pillar that she had mentioned before and then dashed back. I barely had time to catch my breath when she hurled another task at me.

"I want you to get me a donut leaflet. It's somewhere along this road."

I took off running again and this time I was slower because I couldn't remember where I had seen someone handing out donut leaflets. It wasn't until I was on my way back that I found the guy was only a few paces away from where Ril had stood. I had just run all the way to the pillar for nothing.

"You have just realised your stupidity, haven't you?" she grinned at me as she took the donut leaflet from my outstretched hand. I rested my other hand on my knee and struggled for several moments to catch my breath. "You have ten minutes before the next task. In the meantime, I want you to think up at least five important reasons as to why demons are dangerous creatures."

I collapsed onto the wall and lay on the cold brick as I stared up at the sky.

Five reasons why demons were dangerous.

Well this was interesting.

Although Pritkin was an incubus and I knew by fact and instinct that he could be incredibly dangerous when he wanted and needed to be, I never really thought properly about the details of why he was dangerous regarding him being a demon.

I tried to think of the most important reason and it took me several moments to actually consider it a threat. Pritkin could kill me. He could easily kill me and take away my life as he had on far too many occasions reminded me, especially a couple of days ago.

He was an incubus, unlike with vampires, once he started the drain, there would be absolutely nothing I could do to stop him whereas with vampires, you had the chance or the option of shoving the vampire away before he or she killed you. With the incubi, you wouldn't even consider the idea of pushing them away even if you were fully aware of the fact that they were about to kill you.

Even though Pritkin had reminded me time and again of this fact, I had never taken him seriously. Mainly for the reason that there were only two demons that I could think of who would even consider draining me. One was the crazy and idiotic war mage himself, the other was his father.

Yes, Rosier was incredibly dangerous, but I had the vague feeling that he wasn't so interested in trying to kill me anymore. He would probably take the chance if there was an opportunity like I was lying half dead right in front of him, but he didn't seem to care to make any real obvious effort to kill me personally. Not since that last time in the hotel room when he was draining me or that time when he wanted to get the Codex from me in the hotel lobby.

Rosier's way of thinking was that I would probably be killed off by someone else and he didn't really care that much about how I died so long as I was killed one way or another so that I would no longer be a threat to his son. To be perfectly honest, I had to agree with the demon lord. There were so many different groups and races who seemed to be after my life at the moment that I was genuinely surprised that I still managed to survive through everything.

And that brought me back to the other demon in my life. The main reason why I was still alive was thanks to one man, or demon, however you wanted to see it. Pritkin, also previously known as Merlin, was the man who wrote the Codex Merlini and he was also a demon but above all of that, he was just Pritkin. There was simply no other way to describe him.

Pritkin was just Pritkin. He was his own type of person and set of characteristics entirely. I had never met anyone who was anything like him and I doubted that I ever would. He was just such a bizarre and crazy person that it would have been insanity to try and compare him to anyone else. Well, that and the fact that if anyone ever tried to compare him, he'd probably just kill them for trying.

"What are you thinking about, Cassie? That slight smile of yours has me curious."

"I'm not really thinking about anything. Just resting." I lied.

"I'm not buying it. What were you thinking about? Hm… let me guess, you were trying to think about demons so… You were just thinking about Prit, weren't you?" she smirked victoriously.

"No."

"And that's was definitely a lie if the sound of your heart rate speeding up is anything to go by."

"My heart rate?"

"You forget, Cassie, I'm not normal by any means whatsoever. There are many things that I can do and having ultra-sensitive hearing is simply one of my abilities."

"I see. So what else can you do?"

"You will see in due course," she shrugged nonchalantly. "It's too much effort for me to give you a list now. It'll be like asking you to list the things that you are capable of and describing the various forms of each of your ability."

I blinked at her for several moments before I realised that she was right. If someone asked me the same question as the one that I had just asked her, even I would be reluctant to answer. Not because I didn't want them knowing what I could do, although that would definitely make me hesitate, but simply because it would have been too much of an effort and a waste of time to try and think up and list the things that I have managed to do so far.

"So, your time is up. How many dangers did you manage to think up?"

"Um… one?" I stated uncertainly.

"Just one?" she stared at me as though I was joking, except, I really wasn't. I had only just thought of one. She must have seen the answer on my expression because she gave a heavy sigh and ran her hand through her hair. "It seems that there's more to teach you than I'd first thought. Either that or Prit was right and you are totally oblivious to the dangers even though you know perfectly what they all are."

"What'd you mean I'm oblivious even though I know what the dangers are?"

"It means that you know why demons are dangerous, you know what makes them dangerous, but despite that you don't take any of the risks or dangers into consideration of the fact that it adds to their threat."

"So you're saying that I'm like a sheep walking into a den of lions? The sheep knows that the lions are scary and dangerous but it doesn't care."

"Precisely my point," she nodded. "So what was the one reason you thought of?"

"That they can easily kill me and once it's started there'd be nothing I can do to stop the process of the drainage."

"Well you've got the most obvious and important one. I guess I'll give you a brownie point for that. I will tell you one and then you can run laps backwards and forwards between here and that pillar until you manage to figure out the other three. The one I'm going to tell you is less obvious and you probably don't actually know. Demons can use magic up to a certain level. They are restricted to a certain type of magic depending on the family and specie that they come from. Now take a run and let's see how long it takes you to work out the other three."

"You want me to run until I figure the other three out?" I asked her hysterically.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am proposing. Now, there are two things that I can do. I can either put a spell on you so that you have forced to run at a certain pace the whole time until I say stop, or you can choose your own pace by running by yourself. Which would you rather happen?"

"I don't like the sound of either of those options but I pick the latter one!" I complained and took off at a slow jog back down the street towards the pillar.


	5. Chapter 4

_~x~ Chapter 4 ~x~_

By the time I got back, I still couldn't work it out so she gave me a hint to help me work it out. She refused to tell me since she saw that if I was the one to actually work it out then the chances of the information staying in my mind was much higher.

"Demons are non-humans. What one trait is shared between all non-human races?" she asked me before sending me back towards the pillar again.

I thought about it and I was half way there on my way back when I finally realised what one of the answers could have been.

"They have more strength than humans." I told her breathily.

"Well done. Blunt, short answer and I will go into detail about that later during the theory lesson but for now that will do. Now you have two more to go."

I muttered a curse which seemed to cause her to laugh but I ran on nonetheless. I knew full well what the purpose of this exercise was. It was to build up my stamina. Even after all the training that I did with Pritkin before, my stamina was better than it used to be, but it still wasn't all that great. Pritkin had mostly worked towards me gaining higher speeds rather than stamina so it was clear that Ril was compensating for that by making me increase my stamina now.

The next answer came to me when I was on my third lap of running backwards and forwards between Ril and the pillar.

"Their charm."

"Well done. Just one more to go," she smiled at me and sent me on my way again.

By the fourth lap, I still couldn't figure it out and so Ril decided to cut me some slack and gave me a hint. "Think of another trait that vampires and demons share."

I thought about what she had told me and by about the second lap back, I worked it out. "They've got heightened senses."

"And there you have it, the five main reasons why one should think twice before crossing paths or even trying to negotiate with a demon," she smirked and clapped her hands. "You are done with the running, for now."

"For now?" I wheezed, trying desperately to catch my breath.

"Yes, for now. Let's head back to the hotel and we'll get started on your theory lessons."

"Now? Don't I get a break?"

"Your walk back to the hotel will be your break." Ril scoffed.

"You know, I'm actually starting to try and work out whose training is worse. Yours' or Pritkin's." I sighed.

"Oh believe me, mine are probably worse, because I will drive you to the absolute bitter end whereas you could probably find some way of lessening your training with him if you played your cards right. That, unfortunately for you depending on how you looked at it, is impossible when it comes to my training."

"In the short term, it would be hell, but I do understand your logic behind your style of training."

"That's good to hear. I think I might have had to hit you really hard if you still couldn't understand why I was making you run so much after so many laps," she scoffed. "For today, we'll continue with theory lessons until dinner and then we'll pick up from where we just left off with the running once more."

"Does my training only consist of running?"

"You wish, darlin'. You wish." Ril smirked with a shake of her head. "There isn't a single chance in heaven or hell that you are only running as part of your training. You will be stretching and using every single muscle you have in that body of yours to the max so that you will be prepared for almost any given situation. Of course, I can't predict every situation you might get yourself into, but I can guess some of them and I will do my best to prepare you as much as possible."

"This is so that I can hold my own against demons?"

"This is so that you can hold your own in any given situation," she told me firmly and stared at me with another one of those unfathomable gazes of hers. There was something in her eyes and tone that told me that she wasn't just referring to my crazy task to retrieve Pritkin anymore. This was about something else, something much more important and apparently much more dangerous.

For a moment, I considered the idea that she was referring to the recreation of Ragnorak in an extremely round about and vague way. Pritkin had seemed to have told her about so much that it wouldn't have surprised me if Ril did somehow know about that. If she was going to help protect me, there was no doubt that she would need to know about that not-so-little problem considering how I was pretty much in the thick of it all and that it was highly unlikely that just because I had my own personal agenda the war of Ragnorak would just kindly take a pause so that I could take one task at a time. Fate just wasn't nice enough to me for that to happen so I simply had to suppose that by 'any given situation' Ril had also been referring to the matter of the Ragnorak situation.

I thought about asking her what she thought and knew of the whole situation regarding Ragnorak but then decided against it in the end. She probably just knew as much as either I or Pritkin knew considering we only considered it as the war of Ragnorak after Jonas has suggested it, and even then we had both thought that he was talking absolute crazy-talk until we got the confirmation good and proper from a rather nasty son of Ares.

"You look like you're in serious thought again," she laughed as she prodded my arm gently while we made our way back to Casanova's hotel where there was a basement. A basement that held far too many memories of previous training sessions with Pritkin, whenever time permitted.

"I was trying to see if there was a double meaning in what you had just said."

"What? About getting you prepared?"

"Yeah."

"And have you come up with anything?"

"I might have a few ideas which I'm going to keep my mouth shut about. Considering how you didn't deny the fact that there was a double meaning, I guess that I was right in saying that."

"Oh you are certainly right about the double meaning thing," she grinned. "I'm surprised you noticed it. You really are a lot more on the ball that Prit ever gave you credit for. Well… at least in his description of you anyway. But I guess that in such a short amount of time, he was mainly preoccupied with telling me all of your faults rather than good points so that I knew what I had to work on."

"How long did you have with Pritkin? I am supposing that this was pretty much straight after he disappeared and was sent back to Hell?"

"I had felt it when it happened so I decided to make a secret trip back to that realm and somehow managed to sneak into the castle where he's currently being kept." Ril nodded. "For such a short space of time, we sure did cover a whole lot of ground."

"What'd you mean?"

"He told me pretty much all there was to know about you and your situations and connections especially with the negotiator of the North American vampire Senate."

"You know about me and Mircea? What did Pritkin tell you?"

"Just that you two are involved somehow and that there used to be a geis that went wrong but then you fixed it eventually and things were kind of alright but then the whole body switching thing between you and Prit sort of complicated your situation, the negotiator got jealous and you decided to make him court you instead of having you as some kind of a pedigree pet." Ril listed. "In all honesty, personally I think that guy sounds like a total moron and that you should drop him at the first chance you get, but obviously there are strong ties that bind you two together especially considering everything that has happened between you. But I still think that that guy is an absolute ass."

"But he's learning to get better. He's learning very slowly and gradually to accept me for who and what I am and that there are times when he simply has to trust me rather than try to cage me within a protective prison."

"Well obviously he didn't learn enough considering how he used a substitute at first at the coronation party rather than having you there personally." Ril scoffed. "I just don't like the sound of that vampire and the likelihood is, I never will."

"Considering how you have a mutual agreement where you keep out of the Senate's path and they stay out of yours, the chances of you and Mircea actually meeting are really slim so I guess that it doesn't really come down to whether you like or dislike him, right?"

"You're certainly right about that." Ril grinned but there was something in her gaze that made me think that there was once again a double meaning in her mention of Mircea. There was something about it and this time I couldn't for the life of me work out what the other meaning behind that particular conversation was.

"Do you always say things with double meanings?" I asked curiously.

Ril blinked and stared at me for several moments before a wide beaming smile broke out across her face. "I don't always, but more often than not I've been told that I drop on average at least one comment that has a double meaning per conversation topic that I have with someone."

"Doesn't that require you to know a lot about the person that you're either talking to or about?"

"Cassie, if I'm going to be talking to or about someone, I am almost guaranteed to know pretty much all there is to know about them. Right now, I can confidently say that, in some respects, I know more about you than either Prit or that vampire or even you for that matter."

"All things considered, Ril, I'm not really all that fazed about the idea of you knowing more about me than I do. I probably should be, but I'm not, considering how pretty much every significant vampire in the Senates knows something about me that I didn't know of."

"You're talking about the whole thing with your father having been known as a mage part of the Dark Circle, aren't you? Just because he was a necromancer."

"That's one of them."

"And the fact that Mircea knew that you were a candidate to be Pythia before you knew."

"That too."

"The list could probably go on but I think I'll let it stop there otherwise we'll never get our theory lessons done." Ril grinned. "But before we move on, I think you already know this but I'll just say it to set things in stone, if you ever need someone to talk to about anything whether it's a general complaint about the world or even about me, feel free to rant to me. I'll always lend an ear and offer whatever advice I could give should you ever need or want it."

"Thanks, Ril. And you were right, somewhere in the back of my mind my instincts were already telling me that I could pretty much trust you with any thought or opinion that I might have."

"That's certainly nice to know."

Once we got to the basement, I sat comfortably on the mats and leaned against the wall. This was going to be a pretty intense lesson I reckoned so I might as well get as comfortable as I possibly could.

"Before we start, do you want anything? Coffee? Tea? Snacks?" she suggested.

"I'll pass on the snacks since I'm still feeling a little nauseated from all the running I've just done but some tea would be nice."

"Tea it is then. I'll be back soon with some things to get us through the next two hours before having dinner."

I watched as she stepped out of the training salle that I had spent so many hours in with Pritkin before he got himself into the mess that he was in now. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate him saving my life. It just frustrated me that once again I was the cause of suffering for someone I cared about. It was once again my fault that someone important to me was in pain right now.

If I had been a half decent fighter as Pritkin had been trying to train me up to be, I wouldn't have been so close to death after my fight with the Spartoi. He wouldn't be in the mess that he was in right now if I was better.

I could still see it now. All those laps that he used to make me run around in here, all the combat training until I could barely see straight and the one time when I had bested him at sword skills purely through trickery. He had opened up to me about the truth in here. He had told me who he really was, what he really was in this same training salle.

I wanted him back. I desperately wanted Pritkin back by my side. I hadn't really given it that much thought before but I never fully considered the possibility that he might suddenly be gone from my life. I realised that I had on far too many occasions taken his presence at my side for granted and now I was paying for it. I felt like a lost little girl with him gone.

I wanted to change. I didn't want to have to depend on someone so much anymore, I knew that, but it still didn't make me feel any better. If anything, it just made me feel even worse. I had to hold onto the hope that I was strong enough to get through this crazy mission of mine and that until I did, Pritkin wouldn't do something that would get him killed. Or worse, I had to hope that Pritkin didn't kill himself. I had a general idea of just how vehemently Pritkin hated Hell and I wouldn't really put it past him that he would let his rage take over his rationality down there.

I thought back to the time when I had been to Hell just once. That one time when Rosier had sent Pritkin on that god awfully dangerous task of handling a goddess of the battlefield. Pritkin had almost died then too. I remembered how close to death he had been that time, almost being buried under all that rubble. I didn't even want to think about what might have happened had we not shown up with Rosier and distracted that goddess from him.

Suddenly, all the times when we had both been so close to death flooded back to me. The incident in the security booth when he'd lost far too much blood, the injury he got from the Spartoi had so very nearly killed him if it weren't for Rosier coming to the rescue once more.

The memory of him made my eyes sting with tears threatening to fall and I rubbed at them furiously. I wasn't some adolescent girl who wasn't capable of doing anything, damn it! I was the bloody Pythia as so many people had reminded me time and again and I would bring him back even if it was the last thing I did. If he went back to Hell, I wanted it to be on his own terms rather than be forced back because of some broken agreement.

"I leave you alone for just a few moments and your mind starts wandering to the point of making you cry?" a concerned voice echoed through the gym and I glanced up to see Ril stroll in carrying a tray of food and tea and coffee.

The scent of coffee raided my senses and I was once again reminded of the psychotic war mage that I had once sworn to kill with my own hands. It was weird how different things were now. I used to want to kill him with my own bare hands, and now the situation was practically turned on its head and I would do anything to get him back. Just went to show how much things could change in so little time.

"Do all demons have the same love and addiction to coffee?" I asked curiously as I spotted her take large mouthfuls of the bitter liquid at a time.

"Demons have no need for coffee. They tend to go for much stronger stuff that can only be found in the demon realms or they go for life forces."

"In the middle of the day?"

"Can you imagine Casa taking a break for a single moment unless he absolutely has to? If given time, a demon would gladly live in a harem for the rest of his life and have no complaints."

"But -"

"Do humans often think about what time of day they share a kiss or something more intimate? In fact, it doesn't even have to be a kiss. Just a mere touch would do it, especially for the incubi."

"That's just like vampires."

"Precisely. I guess that the only blessing you have is that demons require skin on skin contact to make the drain work. The bad thing is, the current you will be far too easy for even a minor demon to seduce so we'll have to work on that. How good are you at evading vampire charm?"

"It depends on the vampire. Usually I'm able to hold it off."

"That's a reassurance. And Mircea? What is your defence like against him?"

"Usually very bad unless I had more urgent things to do."

"I want you to imagine something for me, Cassie."

"Okay…"

"Think back to when you still had that _geis_ placed on you. Then think about the attraction that it amplified up to Mircea's breaking point. Think back to how difficult it was for you to stay away from him."

"Those times were hard."

"No doubt, now try and imagine something even more intense than that."

"Would that even be possible?"

"Yes, Cassie, and you would be a fool to believe otherwise. A high level demon can make you beg for release with a mere glance. They could entrance you and pleasure you without having to touch you at all in court. That is what it really means to survive the demon courts. To be able to absorb their charm and to retaliate with equal strength, that is the only way you're going to be able to win. I will do what I can to help, but in the end, if you succumb to their charm then it will endanger the whole task."

"Even vampires can't do that with a suggestion."

"Vampires aren't the reigning champions of seduction either. They do a damn good job of it, but they are absolutely nothing compared to demons at court."

"I will remember that."

"Now, think about the time before you completed your Pythian rites. Think about the attraction you felt towards any male you encountered."

"What does that equate to?"

"That's when the demons aren't even trying to charm you at all. That's what it will be like when a demon is at their normal state."

I just stared at her in shock. I'd known that this mission was going to be difficult, but I never would have guessed just how dangerous the demon court could be! The last time I was in Hell, I didn't have to think about things like that at all! Then again, the last time I was there, it was to run away from Rosier and a battlefield goddess. I never encountered anymore demons down there, especially none who might have tried to eat me.

I took a deep breath before letting it out and I saw Ril watching me carefully.

"It's going to be really tough." I commented sombrely.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Do you think that I can do it?"

"I wouldn't be going through this type of information with you if I didn't. If I didn't think that you would be up to the task, I would have turned you away with a suggestion that would make a vampire's power seem like nothing and you wouldn't for a single moment even think about getting Pritkin back."

I gulped a mouthful of tea as I thought about her words. Her power would make a vampire's seem insignificant… Not that I didn't think that she was strong before, but now? Now it made me question whether she was an ordinary demon or something else altogether.

"I don't like to waste time, Cassie. Relax? Yes, but waste time and energy on something that I don't believe in? That's not something that I do. I believe that this will somehow work out because if anyone would be capable of doing this, it would be you and you alone. You have such strong determination, something that I haven't seen for a very long time, Cassie. You will do absolutely everything within and beyond your power to make this work and it is that craziness that I trust in above all else. You really do have the best of luck in gathering all the right people to you, Cassie. It is a talent that will no doubt continue to help you in the future but for now, we will simply take things one step at a time."

I took another sip of my tea and nodded in agreement. I couldn't have agreed with her more. Nothing worked better than taking things a step at a time. I also thought about what she'd said about my ability to natural draw the right type of people to me. I began to wonder if that was true. If she'd said that to me when I was in my teenage years, I would have laughed at her. But now? Now things were very different and I realised that she was right. Although it might not have seemed like it at the time, I really do seem to have a lot of people around me that have made things possible for me to be in the position that I was.

Maybe I wasn't so unlucky after all…


	6. Chapter 5

_~x~ Chapter 5 ~x~_

"Now, I said that we were going to take things one step at a time, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to go easy on you either, Cassie." Ril smirked. "You better prepare for some intensive lessons."

"Considering how little I know, I don't think I'm in any position to complain."

"I'm glad that we share the same opinion," she drawled playfully. "Now lie on your back, knees up at right angle and give me ten sit ups."

When I didn't move, she gave me what looked like it should've been a light shove when it fact it felt like a large weight slammed into me. I fell onto my back and she positioned my legs just right before kneeling down and pressing gently but firmly on my toes.

"Come on, Cassie. Give me ten."

I did as I was told and did ten sit ups.

"Name a general demonic threat."

"They're charmers?"

"Right, demonic charms will throw anyone even vampires off their pace if the demon knows their stuff. A demon's level of charm is firstly determined by their race, then their age. There's no need for me to go into the different types of demons just yet because that'd be a waste of time considering how you can't tell the difference. Name me the most charming demonic race."

"Incubi."

"Good," she smiled. "Keep going with the sit ups, Cassie. You get to pause whenever you're talking."

"Really?" I groaned in protest.

"Really."

I grumbled but continued the sit ups nonetheless. Ril waited until I did at least twenty before speaking again.

"On top of charming, they can also project. Do you remember the time you were in the car with Prit while he was on the verge of death? The heat, the lust, the passion that radiated in the air?"

"I'm unlikely to ever forget that. The aftershocks were painful."

"Right, well, beware of that as well. Most incubi, especially when at court can easily influence their victim without effort. Casa is no different. He has charmed you once, no?"

"He has?" I blinked in surprise, pausing briefly to look at her.

"Yes, he has, try to think carefully."

I thought about it for a long moment and she lightly nudged for me to continue with the sit ups. I huffed but complied as I thought.

"Nope, still nothing."

"Think back to when you found out about the _geis_." Ril suggested.

I gasped as the memory flitted through my mind. Casanova _had_ tried to charm me once, trying to get rid of me without guaranteeing his help with finding Tony. I recalled the way I felt as though I really was bathed in silken sheets on a luxurious bed with a very handsome man atop of me. I remembered the heat, the sultry sensations and the state I was left in once Casanova had released my hand.

Ril smiled at me, knowing that I'd remembered and being pleased about it. "Casa knows his stuff, Cassie, and with Rian as his demon, it only served to make his charm even more irresistible to the female race. Name me another threat."

Oh god, I'd just been through this so why was I racking my mind so desperately again for why demons are dangerous?

By the tenth sit up, I had it.

"Strength."

"Right you are!" she cheered in delight. "In many ways, demons and vampires are similar. The amount of strength a demon possesses depends on their race and age. The older a demon is, the stronger they'll be. You know about the Council of demons, I presume?"

"Yeah."

"The council is comprised of the strongest demon of each family. Roz being the strongest of the incubi."

"Wait." I panted, pausing for a moment to stare incredulously at her. "Roz?"

"Rosier," she told me simply.

"You have a nickname for him?"

"Sure."

"Are you crazy?"

She laughed at that. "I've been told that a few times."

"How can you have a nickname for that heartless bastard?"

"Because it's fun that way. Calling their normal names is boring, you know," she complained with a pout. "Moving back on track. You've encountered Roz's wrath, no?"

"Unfortunately."

"He was foolish to underestimate you so much. That's why he's decided to simply sit back and wait for someone else to do the job for him. Though in my opinion, the likelihood of that happening would be like the first decade of when Prit was banished here on earth. Roz really should stop underestimating people so much."

"I for one am grateful for it. Thanks to that, I get to live longer."

"Prit would never let Roz hurt you. I wouldn't either." Ril gave me a bright smile. "I like you, Cassie."

"I don't suppose you liking me would let me stop doing these sit ups."

"Not a chance," she told me dismissively, eyes twinkling with amusement as I continued.

"Thankfully we don't have to cover strength that much since you're not an ignorant fool like most other normal non-magical humans are. Not to mention, you've survived for so long in a war involving vampires, gods, Spartoi and pretty much every other specie there is out there so you're chances of survival might be higher than we think but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"You know about the Spartoi?"

"Like I said, I've spoken to Prit."

"You also appeared to be on the run right before we crashed into the Spartoi outside the pizza parlour."

"Good memory." Ril complimented me. "Yes, some demon guards were rather hot on my tail at that moment so I couldn't stick around to help you guys out. Sorry about that. Then again, you got to share a rather heated moment with Prit I hear so perhaps it was worth it."

My face flushed and I spluttered incoherently at her. "How do you know about that?" I got out eventually.

"It would do you some good if you know that there isn't a whole lot I don't know about when it comes to Prit and you."

"But even that?"

"Even that." Ril told me with a teasing laugh. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Of course it is! It's a very intimate detail!"

"Yes, and one that would have the foolish negotiator seething. He doesn't like having his things being touched by others, you know?"

"I'm not his possession."

"A fact that you will be fighting to the bitter end if you choose to stay with him," she told me earnestly, eyes shining with a strange gleam. It was as though she _knew_. Like she knew that I really would be fighting for the rest of my life to preserve the respect that I wanted, to be truly viewed as an equal.

Yes, Mircea had gotten better, a point proven in the latest time trip into the past during the fake coronation. But would we ever reach the point where he would trust me enough not to have to imprison me with guards and shelter me from what was really going on? Somehow, I didn't think so.

We shared a deep passion and he'd loved me, I knew that. I couldn't possibly deny something like that. But did he truly love me the way I wanted to be loved? That was something I didn't know. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever know what it would be like to be loved and cherished as an equal rather than as a pedigree pet.

I may defy him as much as I like now, but I knew that this game would continue. It was in his character after all, it was a part of their culture and I couldn't blame him for that. But did I have to stand for it for as long as I lived? Did I have to always play these games?

I didn't want to be sheltered. I wanted to live, even with all the danger life kept throwing at me. I didn't want to be locked away behind as many guards as he could muster. He would always think that the best protection would be to keep me in the dark, to let him handle things, but that wasn't the way I wanted to live, wasn't the way I was going to live.

Fair enough, we had only been reunited for a couple of months, and I probably should give him more time to progress, but right now I couldn't think about that. I would handle the consequences later, whatever they may be. What I did have to focus on now was getting Pritkin back whether Mircea liked having him around me or not.

"I've been meaning to ask, but how are you preventing me from being found? We are very close to where the negotiations have been held and Mircea has a lot of connections in this area."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," she scoffed. "For one thing, whatever tag he might have placed on you is gone. Casa, unless asked by him directly, won't say a thing about you being here and Mircea has no reason to suspect that Casa knows where you are. Now that Prit isn't here, you supposedly no longer need a place away from the vampires to train."

"So Mircea doesn't know that I'm still here?"

"Not yet. Demons are perhaps more cunning than vampires. They can be more slippery than a snake unless you ask the right question, and that negotiator has no knowledge of my involvement yet so he won't be able to ask Casa the right question to find out where you are."

The idea of being able to escape Mircea's watchful eye was somewhat refreshing. He always seemed to know where I was within a few hours no matter how hard I try to get away. As much as I'd grown to like my closest vampire guards, namely Marco in particular, I still didn't like having them breathe down my neck all the time.

"Casanova has my back?"

"Yes. The next four days will be fine. It is what happens after that I am concerned about." Ril told me honestly. "After we get Prit back, the decision will be in your hands and yours alone. I will help you, always know that, but there are a lot of things that only you can do."

"I don't know about that." I murmured doubtfully. "I doubt there's anything I can do that you can't."

"Stop with the sit ups and let's do some stretches." Ril instructed abruptly and I flopped ungracefully onto my back.

"I can't move." I grumbled.

I cried out in surprise when she physically moved me, tugging my legs apart and then pushing my back gently. She rested her elbows casually on my back and leaned slightly.

"There are a lot of things I can't do, Cassie. Those with great power are often the ones with the most limits imposed on them. You'd best remember that too," she told me with a heavy tone and I wondered what she'd meant by that. Was she being restrained by something? If so, by what?

"Alright, give me another threat."

"Extra senses."

"Good, think vampire senses, the norm: heightened hearing, scent, touch, sight, etc. But throw in empathy."

"Empathy?"

"Demons can usually sense what you're feeling, just like vampire can tell by the rise of the pulse and a quickened heartbeat. Some demonic families can not only sense but project and influence how someone else feels. Demons love playing emotional games. They're one of the slyest and most cunning races in the world. More often than not, a demon has ulterior motives when they do something helpful or just in general and on the general whole, they only do something that benefits them in some way."

"Are you the same?"

"Undeniably," she drawled. "Nothing I do is without a motive or benefit."

"You hold a different viewpoint on what benefits you than what others would consider, don't you?" I asked curiously.

"Perceptive. Doesn't everyone?" she countered. "You have a different viewpoint as to what would benefit you. For example, negotiator-boy will think that locking you up is the most effective way to protect you but you and I both know that that's bullshit."

"Negotiator-boy?" I arched my brows at her. "I don't think Mircea would appreciate you calling him a boy."

"Considering how immature he is most of the time, it's the right label." Ril scoffed. "Okay, next threat."

"You mentioned magic?"

"Ah yes, the most complicated one of them all." Ril seemed pensive for a moment before carrying on. "Different species of demons have very particular powers. I doubt that you'd meet many of them, the main concern for you are the incubi. Do you remember that time in Hell when Prit sprouted wings and got you two out of that cave?"

"Yes, they were beautiful…"

"Well, those wings don't belong to Prit. In Hell, there are vials that contain memories. When a demon absorbs the contents of the vial, they can temporarily borrow the power of the creature whose memory it belonged to. Prit was damn lucky that the memory belonged to a winged demon, otherwise you guys wouldn't have gotten out of there alive."

"How does that work though? How does a memory get into a vial?"

"There is a family of demons who have the ability to draw out a memory with or without a person's consent."

"Isn't that really dangerous?"

"Yes, they're lethal. But even they are restricted sometimes depending on the situation and on the whole they choose carefully when they use their power if they have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"Many of them don't have a choice. They are recruited by the High Court to act as assassins and to absorb the resourceful memories of their victims. Some try to hide their abilities if they can."

"Could you do that? Hide your abilities, I mean."

"It's near to impossible, but not entirely, not if you spend a lot of your time in the mortal realm and away from the vying eyes of demons."

"Is it easy for a demon to hide?"

"If they have the right help and resources."

"Are you one of them? A runaway I mean."

Her lips twitched into a grin and she sniggered. "I'm a bit of both actually. I'm a runaway though I never manage to stay here long because the guards are just too damn efficient at finding me. But usually I'm a source of advice and information for those who want to hide away a little while here in the human realm."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, Ril." I began nervously. "But why are you running? Do you have the same hatred towards demons like Pritkin does?"

"No, I don't. I just have someone close to me who loves to over protect me just as negotiator-boy does when it comes to you. I know what it's like to be imprisoned the way you do by the vampire. I'm going to be honest with you and say that that's one of the reasons as to why I'm helping you. A strong person shouldn't have to be imprisoned like that and made to feel powerless." Ril told me seriously.

"I can't imagine anyone having the heart to imprison you somewhere. You seem like the kind of person to be able to escape no matter what they do."

"As are you," she added. "With the right helpers, of course. Prit being the prime criminal and therefore immediately dumping him in the vampire's bad books."

I froze, turning my head to face her with a startled and disbelieving expression. "_That's_ why Mircea disapproves of Pritkin being my guard so much? Because Pritkin helps me defy him?"

"Not only." Ril scoffed, shaking her head. "Can you think of no other reason why the vampire doesn't like Prit?"

"Well, supposedly because he can't be trusted. They know that Pritkin is a demon, they don't know who he is, but they don't trust demons much more than anyone else. Mircea's been trying to get me to replace Pritkin for weeks, which is ridiculous because the only reason I'm still alive despite everything that's happened is because Pritkin's been right there by my side."

"You know, Cassie. For an occasionally sharp woman, you're incredibly dumb at the same time." Ril told me bluntly.

"I'm not dumb." I protested. "I have inadequate amount of knowledge, but I'm not dumb."

"Well then, you're either in denial or you're blind. Either way, I should hope you realise soon before you get hurt."

"Realise what? Why Mircea seems to disapprove of Pritkin so much?"

"Partly," she stated as she manoeuvred my body accordingly to proceed with a different stretch. "Now, give me another threat."

"Uh…" I trailed off lamely, trying to remember the last one. Then I remembered the reason why we were doing all of this in the first place. "Feeding," I whispered.

"Right, when an incubus feeds, you can often tell because you'll feel an undeniably heightened sense of lust and more often than not you'll feel as though you're somewhere else. It can take a matter of seconds before they can drain you bone dry. The discretion of the feeding is entirely dependent on the demon doing the draining. They can either make it a painful or a pleasurable experience. However, usually, once it starts, you're done for. Once you succumb to the charm, you're as good as dead."

"Casanova has tried it once before I think…"

"No, he hasn't. He tried to charm you away, but the _geis_ got in the way of that." Ril told me patiently, shaking her head once more. "Also, a demon is at their most vulnerable when they feed because they have to drop their shields, which could also be twisted to your advantage depending on the situation. Having said that, while they might be at their most vulnerable, they are also at their most lethal. Demons don't like having their meals interrupted and would try to kill the person interrupting them on the spot without waiting for a reason."

"I remember Pritkin mentioning that once… He said that once he'd started the feeding process, there was no one who could've saved me from my impending doom."

"Well, understandably he hasn't had enough good experiences with his incubi abilities to be able to use them without extreme caution. But he is being utterly ridiculous about it. He made one mistake, and drowned himself in guilt for so long that he doesn't know how to drag himself out of it. That's what I need you for. You're the only one who's survived both his feedings. Even he can't ignore something like that. He'd be a fool to, and if he were to remain a fool for much longer, I will personally take the pleasure of beating the common sense into that thick skulled head of his."

"You really do love fighting Pritkin, don't you, Ril?"

"Oh of course I do! We're both so reckless once we fight and neither of us bother holding back, it's so refreshing." Ril admitted shamelessly. "With him gone for so long, I'll have to say that I feel as if I've lost my touch which is a little dangerous. But not to worry, I'm still in perfect condition to protect you on this whacky mission of yours."

"No matter how out of touch you are, you'll still be the better fighter." I told her honestly and after a slight pause, I finally asked the question I'd been too nervous to ask her earlier. "How did you meet Pritkin?"

"In Roz's court," she told me conversationally. "He wasn't always such a tight-assed ball of rage. That happened mainly after the fallout."

"Pritkin's wife."

"Yes. Prit is narrow-minded at his best and downright impossible and stupendously stubborn at his worst. Nothing will ever make him see that her death wasn't his fault. Mind you, Roz was being a conniving little shit too by telling her about the exchange. But she was desperate, so desperate to be a part of the grandiose lifestyle she would occasionally get a glimpse of that she used Prit."

I felt anger coil through me and I felt the urge to jump through time just to slap this woman. No one could've guessed the emotional scar it would leave on Pritkin at the time, but I still felt my heart ache at the pain that he must've suffered when it happened. "Did she love him at all?"

"Hard to say," she scoffed. "I think that she was probably more in love with the fact that Prit was her doorway to that luxury than the crazy mage himself. But I wasn't there at the time, I never saw them together, so I have no idea. The only thing that's clear is that the experience tore him apart and he has yet to be pieced back together. Mind you, he would always carry that scar."

"I wish he didn't have to." I breathed.

"Everyone has their scars, Cassie. But those scars make someone more lovable. It takes the right person to make those scars seem okay. Think about it, as broken as he is, Prit wouldn't be who he is today if it weren't for his trauma."

I hated it. But Ril had a point. Pritkin wouldn't be as strict and protective and well… he wouldn't be the Pritkin I knew if it weren't for what happened. And I wouldn't have him any other way.


End file.
